Stephen Hawking: Overcoming the odds

 Stephen Hawking: Overcoming the odds

Introduction

We know a lot about black holes, the multiverse, and, of course, the Theory of Everything due to this man. Yes, you are right. I am talking about Stephen Hawking. The man who revolutionized our perspective through which we see the universe. Today I am going to introduce his life to you as a tribute to the man who achieved feats that no ordinary man could.

Image Source - Google | Image by - Wikipedia | Stephen Hawking

Birth and graduation

Stephen William Hawking CH CBE FRS FRSA was born on 8 January 1953, exactly 300 years after Galileo's death. His background was also very educational. His father, Frank Hawking, was a medical researcher and his mother, Isobel Hawking, was one of the first women who graduated from Oxford University. He was known as ‘Einstein’ when he was in school though he did not do very well in his studies. When the time of graduation came, he wanted to pursue mathematics whereas his father wanted him to take medical. Hawking could not take medicine as it was not his cup of tea so he accepted another one of his father’s wishes, to go and study at Oxford, his father’s alma mater. So, he went to Oxford and because mathematics was not available there, he took physics and chemistry. He said that the studies there, in the beginning, were ‘ridiculously easy’. But, in the second and third years, he got diverted to other things due to which the finals got difficult for him. He answered only theoretical physics questions and not those which required factual knowledge. After that, he persuaded the people at the college to give him a first-class BA degree in physics. With that, he went to trinity college to do his graduation work

Major works

• Black holes - Who doesn’t know this! He is the man, after all, who did most of the work on black holes. He said that black holes are not actually black. They glow too! Entropy, thermodynamics, event horizon, antiparticles and whatnot. He said that even black holes emit radiation. He could have received the Nobel prize for that. But because there was no proof, he was not given the Nobel prize. We could only prove him true after his death. Unfortunately, the Nobel prize is not awarded posthumously.

• The Theory of Everything - He proved that string theory could be the key to humanity’s wish that we have wanted for a long time. He proved some theories wrong and some right and found key points that the theory of everything should have.

Plans for a trip to space

In an interview, Hawking presented his wish of travelling to space which had not been fulfilled. Hearing this, Richard Branson immediately booked him a flight with special conditions so that it would not create problems with his body. Stephen Hawking, for the first time, saw himself floating due to Zero-G. 

Image Source - Google | Image by - Wikipedia | Stephen Hawking in Zero-G

Stephen Hawking is often seen as a man paralyzed with Motor Neurone Disease. He was more than that. His life was complete science. You see, he was born on Galileo's 300th death anniversary and died on the 139th birthday of Albert Einstein. Doctors said that he had only two more years to live but still he achieved this massive feat. Not many people affected by this disease survive for a long time…